


The Sun, the Moon, the Whole Universe

by GhostClimber



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, Based on a Tumblr Post, Cupid - Freeform, Flowers, Fluff, M/M, Mild Smut, Not Beta Read, Sakura (Cherry Blossoms), Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:34:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29844327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostClimber/pseuds/GhostClimber
Summary: Cherry Blossom owns a tattoo parlor. On the other side of the square, Joe spies him from his flower shop.Something will force them to talk to each other, and so much more.
Relationships: Hasegawa Langa/Kyan Reki, Nanjo Kojiro | Joe/Sakurayashiki Kaoru | Cherry Blossom
Comments: 2
Kudos: 42





	The Sun, the Moon, the Whole Universe

Joe spied from behind a begonia bush for the arrival of Cherry.  
Like every morning, that odd pink-haired punk arrived at thirty-five past seven precisely; Joe looked at him bending, opening the lock holding his tattoo parlour's slider closed and opening it, throwing it up quite easily.  
He hid a little bit better while Cherry opened the glass door behind and then turned around to close it: Joe's florist shop was exactly in front of the tattoo parlour, and if Joe was arrogant enough to send his apprentice to deliver a sakura blossom to every client that came out of the parlour, he sure wasn't brave enough to come out of his hiding spot to wave at him. It seemed to be too much.  
-Boss, one day you'll arrive here to find out that I removed all the bushes from the window and I replaced them all with orchids.- his apprentice said, causing him to jump, -I'd like to see you try to hide behind the orchids.  
-Don't be a smartass, Reki! Do I have to remind you who's paying your check?- Joe asked, getting up in his most menacing pose. The boy shuddered and picked a dead leaf from a begonia. Then, he casually threw it up, and Joe looked up to follow it, perplexed.  
SHIT!  
Without knowing, Joe was fully visible in the window and it seemed like he was looking out and, oh, shit, Cherry was just coming out with the price poster. The punk accidentally looked up and caught Joe's eyes, who tried his best not to blush.  
Cherry waved a hand to greet him and Joe replied with a very rigid gesture. With utmost horror, he saw Cherry checking his watch and then cross the pedestrian square that divided their shops.  
-Sooner or later, I swear I'll fire you.- Joe hissed to Reki, who started to whistle (badly) while he sprayed water on the leaves of a papyrus.  
Joe ignored the boy and went out of the shop, a bit fearing and a bit hoping that Cherry wanted to speak to him: as much as the idea of exchanging some words was terrifying, the idea of going out in all his pride and glory and see him change his direction and go, who knows, at the bar, was even worse.  
-Good morning.- Cherry said.  
-Good morning to you.- Joe replied, -Can I help you?  
-Shall we talk a bit? Privately.- in a split second, Joe's mind gave birth to a gazillion of X-rated movies, then the man looked back into his shop and said: -Reki, I'm leaving you alone for a moment. Don't make anything explode while I'm away!  
-Explode...?- Joe closed the door on the logical protest of the boy.  
-Follow me.- Cherry said. Without waiting for an answer, he turned back and headed to the tattoo parlour. Joe felt a sting of rage: that Cherry guy sure was one hell of an arrogant, he appeared without warning, playing the mysterious one, then he commanded him to follow and he didn't even make a gesture of courtesy. He didn't even say please.  
He thought he could decide not to follow him and then put on a nice frown as an adult man would do, then the curiosity and the attractive of that first-prize ass forced him behind Cherry like the music by the Hamelin's piper. He followed him in the tattoo parlour, past the small hall and into the room where he actually did his job, hidden behind a dark curtain.  
-Listen, I've seen your apprentice approaching every single one of my clients.- Cherry began, without the slightest introduction, and Joe looked away, with the excuse of watching the photos of his old art, exposed on a corkboard. -Yes, it's some kind of an ad, I don't think I'm doing anything wrong.- he vaguely commented. Cherry's arm appeared beside his head, and his finger pointed the photo of a particularly complicated tattoo, an enormous Maori that covered a whole leg and a gluteus: -This client- Cherry said, -Told me that your apprentice gave him a sakura blossom. In October.  
-Well, yes, I have a greenhouse and I like sakuras, what's wrong with that.  
-Nothing. At all. You made a lot of people come back to me, with your idea.  
-And my shop is filled with pierced and tattooed people buying flowers, so I guess we can both say we're satisfied.- Joe said. Being near to Cherry's body was making him hot, and he moved away; as an excuse, he pointed to another Maori, at the right of the corkboard, and said: -Nice one, this. I'm not an expert, but it really seems well done.  
-All of my works are well done.- Cherry said, -I have to ask you something.- he leaned with his back against the wall and caught his eyes. Joe swallowed: -Tell me.  
-I'm working on this boy, these days. You must have noticed him, bobbed light blue hair, kinda looking sad, pretty gorgeous.  
-Yes, I've seen him. What are you tattooing on him?  
-That's none of your business, a tattoo is a personal matter. What I want you to tell me, is why your apprentice still didn't give him a flower.  
-He didn't?- Joe was so astonished that he forgot how close they were and how the situation could turn out to be spicy.  
-Listen, he's going to come back for the last time today. After that, I doubt we'll ever see him again. Now, what I'm telling you is clearly confidential...  
-Of course.  
-The boy has half a crush for your apprentice. I think that, if that redhead would give him that damn flower, we could both earn something from it.  
-I'll scold Reki.- Joe said, then he barely escaped an accusation of sexual harassment; he saw himself pleading the judge by saying: “Your Honour, I beg for the clemency of the court, that sexy bomb smiled at me!” and he forced himself not to move a muscle.  
-Thank you so much, uhm...  
-Kojiro.- Joe said, then his hand moved by himself. Cherry shook it and said: -And I am Kaoru. Thank you so much, Kojiro.  
-Don't mention it, Kaoru.- Joe took his hand back and managed not to adore it as a sacred relic touched by the gorgeous Cherry Blossom, then he headed out.  
-Do you have any tattoo, Kojiro?- Cherry asked, behind him.  
-I... No, I don't.- Joe replied. He stopped, curious; as much as the question was legit, given the man's job, he had sensed something more in his question.  
-If you ever think about getting one, come to me. I would be honoured to see my ink on your skin.  
-Oh?- Joe exhaled, astonished.  
-Such a beautiful body would be the perfect canvas for my art.- Joe looked at Cherry; in a cone of shadow, the man's eyes seemed to be lost in the void. In a dreamy voice, he added: -Naturally, I won't make you pay... I just... I'm dying to...- Cherry regained some composure, shook his head and smiled at him, coldly, professionally. -Think about it. Even after closing time, if you prefer.  
-I will. What time is the boy coming in?  
-At two. We will be done by three, three and a half.  
-Perfect. See you later, then.- Joe went out, trying not to run, jump or such bullshit. He got to the shop, where Reki was lovingly re-potting an agapanthus, he sighed like a little girl then he thundered: -REKI KYAN!  
-Boss? What... eheh, what's up?  
-Didn't I tell you to give a sakura blossom to every client coming out of the Cherry Blossom? And with everyone I mean everyone?  
-Hem, yes you did, and I did, I mean...  
-Oh, did you? And that blue haired boy? Who's that, the son of the servant?  
-I have no idea whatsoever who you're talking about.- Reki shamelessly lied. The blush on his cheeks and his categorical inability to lie betrayed him in no time.  
-Yes you do! Today at three and something, that boy is going to come out of the Cherry Blossom and you will be ready at the starting block with a goddamn sakura blossom, you will shove it in his hand and you will tell him the bullshit you tell everyone else!  
-But boss, I can't! He's too pretty!- Reki protested, then he blushed a little bit more. For a crazy second, Joe was tempted to provoke him a little bit more, just to see how close the boy could get to the colour of a dark room lightbulb. Then he remembered that it had taken ages for him to speak with Cherry, and that he would still be sitting behind bushes in the early morning if it hadn't been for that small teenage love story, and he was moved to mercy. He sighed and said: -Today's his last time here. So, it's now or never.- Reki got pale. He was so genuine and honest that Joe could easily read all of his thoughts, but frankly he had already gotten a vague idea and he didn't want to go further.  
-If you don't go by yourself, I'll kick your ass there.- he just said.  
-As you wish, boss.- Reki replied, then he went back to his agapanthus.

At a quarter past three, more or less, the sole of Joe's left shoe impacted with Reki's right gluteus, and the boy was shoved in the middle of the square.  
Behind the window of the Cherry Blossom Tattoo Parlour, the famous boy was chatting with Cherry; Joe caught the tattoo artist's glance and slightly nodded, then he placed himself beside the door, barely hidden behind a ficus; he made it so that Reki could see that he was armed with a cactus and gave him a deadly glare, so that it was crystal clear that he was ready to throw it at him if he didn't give that damn flower to the boy.  
Then, everything happened very quickly.  
The door of the Cherry Blossom Tattoo Parlor opened.  
Reki turned back to the flower shop.  
Joe waved the cactus.  
Reki turned back again and said: -Hey! Hi!- Joe spied them while they goofily flirted in the middle of the square, from his strategic position behind the ficus; he saw Cherry in the dark of the curtain, almost invisible if it wasn't for an occasional ray of light coming from the neons that reflected on the lenses of his glasses when he moved.  
-Boss!- Reki called. Who knows how, he managed to fit in that one syllable a vibrato that sounded like one of Axl Rose's best performances.  
-Yes, Reki.- Joe answered, trying to look professional.  
-Can I take my break now?- Reki asked. Joe couldn't be sure, from that distance, but he would have bet that the boy's back was a waterfall of cold sweat.  
He pretended to look at the clock and think about his request, then he said: -Go. You have thirty minutes.  
-Thank you, boss!- Reki hopped away beside the other boy, and Cherry came out of the parlour.  
-Mission accomplished.- he said, smiling, getting close to the ficus. He raised a hand and Joe high-fived him. -Two so sexy Cupids have never been seen!  
-How modest.- Cherry commented. Joe was shut silent, and the tattoo artist shook his head, pushing his glasses up his nose, then he went away.  
Joe managed to call him back when he was already at the other side of the square: -Hey!  
-Yes?  
-What if I stopped by tonight, for that tattoo?  
-It would be perfect. I close at...  
-At eight o'clock, I know.- Cherry coldly nodded towards Joe and went back into the parlour.

-So,- Cherry began, -How did your apprentice's break go?  
-I think it went well. From four to seven and a half I heard the name “Langa” being pronounced for exactly three hundred and seventy two times.  
-Were you counting?- Cherry asked, side-eyeing him.  
-Yes, but the first fifteen minutes are missing. I began the counting out of curiosity after hearing it a gazillion times.  
-You are as sentimental as a gorilla.  
-What can you do, I have a reputation to keep...  
-The reputation of the toughest florist in the square? Good luck...  
-HEY!  
-What would you want me to tattoo on you?  
-What do you see well on me?- Cherry, who was checking his equipment on the table beside the cot, stopped to look bad at him: -Asking the tattoo artist what tattoo to get is a lame move.  
-I'm not asking Cherry Blossom. I'm asking Kaoru.- Cherry stopped. Then, with slow, sensual gestures, he got close and brushed his hands on his chest. Joe held his breath, trying not to get too horny, then Cherry grabbed his shirt and took it off. His gentle, thin hands touched his left shoulder, and his voice came out in a whisper: -A sun. here, on the shoulder.  
-It's good to me.- without wasting another word, Cherry turned around and quickly scribbled something on a transparent sheet; a few minutes later, on it there was a big sketched sun, in a style that looked like a Maori, but not quite. Joe, in awe for his quickness and ability, commented: -Cool.  
-Shall I begin?- Cherry asked.  
-Whenever you want.- Joe let himself be pushed and put in the right position, and observed Cherry through the reflection of the mirror on the wall. The tattoo artist was transferring the drawing on his skin, around the deltoid; before starting for real, Cherry asked: -Do you want some music?  
-Do you have “A Night at the Opera” by Queen?  
-Of course.- Cherry commanded: -Carla. Put on “A Night at the Opera”.  
-Yes, master.- a sensual feminine voice answered.  
-What's that, something like Alexa?- Joe asked.  
-Sorta. But much better.- the first notes of Death on Two Legs invaded the room. Joe relaxed and closed his eyes, enjoying the touch of Freddie Mercury's fingers on the piano and Cherry's on his shoulder.  
The touch of the needle was much less enjoyable, but Joe managed not to complain. The entire procedure seemed to last centuries, but he realized that it had taken Cherry just an hour when the sound of the liner stopped and the first notes of God Save the Queen replaced it.  
Maybe there was a vague part of him that enjoyed masochism, but while Cherry cleaned the tattooed zone with a cloth wet wit disinfectant, fresh and perfumed, he realized that he had enjoyed Bohemian Rhapsody in some sort of almost erotic daze.  
Roger Taylor's rapid drumming on the timpani that ended the last song of the album was followed by Cherry's whisper: -It's done.- Joe got up and went to the mirror.  
The tattoo was perfect, it went along the lines of his muscles; how Cherry had managed to sketch it in no time, so precisely, was something that went really over his understanding.  
-Do you like it?- Cherry asked, behind him, close, too close.  
-It's... it's perfect.- Joe confessed, -Why a sun?- he asked.  
-It seemed to be perfect for an arrogant muscular dude like you.- Cherry answered. Joe turned around, pretty much sure he was required to ruin that pretty face with his fists, but Cherry shoved him against the wall and hissed in his ear: -As a florist, you should know very well what is the meaning of the sun.- Joe froze.  
Cherry let his kimono slip from his shoulders and Joe noticed that he had piercings, not only on his ears and lip, which he had already noticed, but also on his nipples and belly button.  
He lowered a hand and touched his hard cock: -No metal, here?  
-I'm not for that kind of kink.- Cherry answered, then he closed Joe's mouth with his. Without knowing how it had happened, Joe found himself once again on the cot, this time with Cherry's body over his and his fingers inside, covered with the same Vaseline he used to cover the tattoos after finishing them.  
He didn't even think to complain.  
When Cherry took out his fingers to replace them with his cock, he just said: -Be nice, it's the first time.  
-I'll be nice.- Cherry promised, and he was. He loved him gently, so slow that Joe found himself thinking at the waves of the lake, when at night there are no boats around and the only push the water gets are the movement of the Earth and the flowing of the affluent rivers; he allowed himself to be kissed, just like a beach allows itself to be brushed by those tiny waves that look like caresses, and when he came he shoved his face in Cherry's hair.  
He heard him moan in his ear, and a heartbeat later it was over.

-Do you need the restroom?- Cherry asked quietly.  
-No, I live right over the shop.- Joe answered.  
-Can you do one last thing for me?  
-“Say the word, your wish is my command”- Joe sang, in a not-so-bad interpretation of Queen. Cherry got up and Joe followed him. He hugged him by his waist and looked at him while he changed the needle on the liner, then Cherry got rid of his embrace and lied down, naked, on the cot: -Tattoo something on me.- Joe looked at him. Cherry's body was filled with tattoos, one more wonderful than the other.  
-Listen, I... I suck at drawing.  
-Do something easy. I just want to have you on my skin.- Joe thought for a while, then he took the liner. Cherry showed him how to turn it on, and Joe caressed his naked skin. His fingers brushed the tattoo of an explosion of sakura blossom, that went on all his chest and on the arm, then they followed the lines of a rainbow coloured plume on the line of his pelvis. At last, he decided, he bent over him and left some simple traits on his lower belly, on the left, a few inches under his belly button.  
-You didn't draw a dick, I hope.- Cherry said.  
-No, but I confess I thought I could.- Joe replied, offended. It seemed that that man enjoyed making him lose his calm and maybe, he said to himself, it was just that. If there was something that everyone always told him, after some time, was that he was too rigid, too false. Cherry, without even knowing him that much, had understood that there was a volcano in him and was telling him that he could let the lava flow when they were together.  
Cherry looked down and asked: -Why a moon?  
-It seemed perfect for a scrawny bitch like you.  
-Hey!  
-...if I'm the sun, I want you to be the moon.- Joe confessed, -Flowers need the sun to live, but they also need to close their corolla and rest.- he put the liner down and kissed Cherry again, taking advantage of his astonished silence.  
-You know that Apollo and Artemis are twin brothers, do you?- Cherry asked.  
-Yeah, so what? In the Olympus it's all an orgy anyway!- Joe replied. Cherry opened his mouth to protest, then he seemed to think better: -True that.  
-What I know is that Apollo is the master of all domesticated things, while Artemis rules everything that's wild. If you think about it, there are some similarities.  
-Come here, you philosopher, while you blabber I'll put some Vaseline on that tattoo.- Cherry said, elegantly getting up. He didn't worry about putting some clothes on.  
-I'm just saying,- Joe went on, -That together we hold the whole universe in our hands.- Cherry, who was putting the Vaseline on his shoulder, stopped for a second, then he finished with care and in complete silence. Joe was about to say something else, when Cherry stood in front of him and looked down: -You know. You look like an asshole, but deep inside you're nothing but a sloppy downtown florist.  
-And you are a too seasoned punk.- Joe replied, then he was silenced by a couple of lips and he found out the most important thing: their words could be rude, and become embarrassed when they tried to scrape the surface, but their lips would always find a way to explain everything.

**Author's Note:**

> Ghosty's little notes:  
> The son of the servant: actually, I don't know if this is used outside of Italy, but I like it so I kept it. Whenever someone is left behind, we ask "What am I, the son of the servant??!"  
> Yes, I love Queen, I love A Night at the Opera and the song that Joe sings in "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy".  
> No metal on Cherry's thing: I wanted to put one there as well, but while I was doing researches for another fic (note to self: erase recent history) I found out that it's related to a very peculiar kink which I didn't want to include. If someone should know better than me (I mean, I pierced my helix and that's all!), feel free to correct me and I'll fix it up.  
> I hope you liked this little fic of mine, thanks to Tumblr user geeky-greek for suggesting the prompt!


End file.
